Every single piece of evidence that we’ve been encountering this week suggests that John Mateer is closer to playing against Texas than Brent Venables and Co. want anyone to believe. And Venables’ efforts to keep Mateer’s comeback under wraps are getting messier as days go by. Mateer broke a bone in his right throwing hand during the first quarter of Oklahoma’s 24-17 win over Auburn on September 20.

Initially, the timeline for Mateer’s comeback was about a month. But since the post-surgery feedback was positive, the optimism grew, and Mateer was expected to join way ahead of schedule. Moreover, he was also spotted in full uniform during the game against Kent State, and now all signs point that he’ll be ready to take the field against the Longhorns. But Brent Venables is still playing coy. The Sooners shifted their Tuesday practice indoors to the Everest Indoor Training Center, which raised immediate suspicions that they were trying to hide John Mateer’s participation. 

But when Brent Venables was asked directly during his press conference, his reasoning was pretty ambiguous. Brent Venables’ explanation for why Oklahoma practiced indoors was confusing and contradictory. “It’s almost 90 degrees yesterday and the strain of the season is real,” Venables said when asked if they were hiding Mateer from potential Texas espionage. He went on to emphasize that Oklahoma had just recently added air conditioning to the Everest Indoor Training Center, noting that “up until recently, we were the only team in the SEC without an indoor with AC”. Venables continued, “Just trying to be smart about it. There’s only so much tread on the tire. Practicing in 71-degree weather is a little different than 90. So, just trying to be mindful of that.”

The problem? When you actually check the weather data for Norman on Monday, October 6, the high temperature was nowhere close to 90 degrees. According to weather reports, Norman reached a high of around 75 degrees on Tuesday with overcast skies and a slight breeze, and Monday’s conditions were similar. The temperature at 10:20 am on Tuesday, October 7, was recorded at 63°F with overcast conditions and 78% humidity. So either Brent Venables was flat-out lying about the temperature to avoid discussing Mateer’s status, or he genuinely has no idea what the weather was like and just threw out “90 degrees,” hoping nobody would fact-check him. Oklahoma also went on to practice indoors on Tuesday.

Moreover, Pete Thamel’s report on Tuesday also made it extremely clear that Mateer’s playing against Texas is very much on the table. The timeline also makes a lot of sense if everything has gone according to plan. Now, as to why Brent Venables might be messing around, the answer is strategy. Oklahoma wants Texas to waste its time on studying the techniques of both of its QBs. But Steve Sarkisian has already made it abundantly clear that they will be preparing for Mateer only.

Arbuckle’s comments reveal more than he wants

If you need any more convincing on whether Mateer will be playing against the Texas Longhorns, listen to the offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle himself. When asked about Mateer, he said, “You know, like I said kind of last week, John’s a very process-oriented guy and is going to follow the directions given by the doctor, and if there’s any sort of gray area, he may lean towards more the darker shade of the gray whenever it comes to a recovery process.” The line about “darker shade” specifically suggest that his chances of playing against the Longhorns lean towards suiting up rather than watching from the sidelines.

And this was not a Freudian slip either, Arbuckle even reiterated when specifically asked if Mateer would play. He said, “I think John knows his body. I think he understands, you know, ultimately what’s best for the team. But you know, he doesn’t want to put himself in a compromising position either. So whenever he’s, you know, trending towards that darker shade of gray, he always has his body and mind also.”

While this sounds diplomatic, the message is on the wall already. He’ll suit up. But if you think about it, Oklahoma has an amazing opportunity to outsmart Texas and have its backup QB start the game. It’ll throw them off, but it might be too much of a risk for Brent Venables to take.